Sustainable Land Development Today - June 2008 - (Page 23)

“The more use we get out of there, the better for the community,” Keck said. For the areas that do require water, the park district relies on a RainBird MAXICOM System that uses weather station data to determine the exact amount of water needed. “We implemented some of the best water conservation controls available. Sometimes that gets overlooked on a large project like this,” said Hadley, who pointed out that most projects can boast some kind of water-saving measures but not necessarily to the same scale. Keck said the MAXICOM system has been a district standard for several years because it allows precision monitoring of the area. The 11.5 acre grass baseball fields feature an engineered soil including a calcined diatomaceous earth soil amendment called Axis. It is designed to hold water in the soil longer and reduce irrigation water requirements. “It’s a naturally porous material that both increases infiltration and plant available water in the soil. It holds 142 percent of its own weight in water and the roots of the grass can draw from that longer,” Keck said. The renovated area also features park furnishings, including benches, picnic ta- bles and trash receptacles, made of recycled materials, Hadley said. “Also, we planted arboretum trees all over the site,” said Hadley, and project managers worked with campus administrators and horticulture professors to develop a list of trees they wanted on campus to augment their curriculum. The effort resulted in a diverse pallet of more than 500 trees on the site. “So we incorporated some unique species, but it’s basically a good mix of arboretum trees that we planted along the site on the berms,” said Hadley, pointing to the effort as another successful partnership between the park district and the college. The athletic field lighting system, manufactured by Musco, saves on electricity costs through a green design. It is engineered to combat the way conventional lighting decreases in efficiency over time, according to Hadley. “Musco has come up with a controller that in a sense meters out the electrical voltage going to the lamps. So the first year rather than burning lamps at their 100 percent brightness capability, the electrical controller reduces the amount of voltage going to the lamp so they’re able to extend the lamp life over a much longer period of time,” he said. “The net result is you get more light for less electrical use over time. It’s truly a green, energy-efficient system,” Keck said, adding that the system allows workers to adjust the lights and turn them on and off via cell phone. The technology enables designated staff members to call the data system in Iowa to make changes. “They’re working great, our staff loves them,” he said. Bioswales treat storm water runoff from the site. through the process. Everybody had their needs on the table,” he said. “We’re serving generally the same patrons so it was easy to come to the solutions we did.” SLDT Photos courtesy of Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District and WHPacific, Inc. About the author: Eileen Mozinski is a freelance journalist and can be reached at: eileen.mozinski@gmail.com Drawing attention Shortly after the development’s 2007 opening, it won the Oregon Recreation and Park Association Award for Design and the site will be featured on a sustainability tour later this summer when the Special Park Districts Forum is held in Portland. Overall, Keck said the process has gone remarkably smooth. “We both kept a real open line of communication www.SLDTonline.com 23 http://www.SLDTonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Land Development Today - June 2008

Sustainable Land Development Today - June 2008 Contents Our Voice Editorial Board SLDT Resources Where Rubber Meets the Road Integrated Planning: The Key To Developing Sustainable Planned Communities Win-Win For College and Community Industry Spotlight: Transoft Unique Organization, Unique Opportunity New Preferred Provider Comments from the Austin Conference Welcome New Members New Knowledge Project Articles Books Going Green Business Management Risk Management Surveying and Mapping Industry News Products/Services Showcase Advertiser Index Classifieds The Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - June 2008

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